So, my camera body has an issue that only developed today while shooting. The aperture control arm in the body doesn’t seem to be working anymore.
I’ve tried several quick fixes in an attempt to get it operational again, but nothing has worked.
Outside of 12fps burst fire at the lens aperture, it doesn’t actuate for more than one frame.
So I don’t really have much else to lose by attempting to tear it down and see if I can fix it.
I found a fully detailed service manual and I may get in to the repair attempt this evening.
Wish me luck.
Sony SLT A77. I had tried a few different lenses after I’d read that sometimes it might just be an error created from dirty contacts on either the lens or the camera body.
The camera will still autofocus and record the photo information, so that eliminated dirty contacts.
It’ll even still take single frames at up to 1/100 of a second, but any lower than that and it freezes up the aperture.
I’m going to make a coffee and start to dig in to it.
Hopefully I can get this done before I head to bed this evening.
Personally I would take it to a camera repair shop because separating components in such a way that you can put them back together again requires a bit of practice. But if you don’t have this option or want to experiment, just remember to
keep your work area well-lit and dust-free,
make sure you have all the tools (including all the neat plastic tools to pry components apart without damaging them, and various fine screwdriver bits),
take photos of everything you do so you can revert the process.
Good luck!
(I recently replaced the battery in a Kindle that is more than a decade old but still works fine. I learned a lot about stuff that appears to be glued together but isn’t really. And patience )
I do little sketch of large pieces on cardboard and pin in the screws in where the belong to be sure not to try to put a longer or shorter screw where it does not belong and thus … screw-up (sorry) reassembly.
After attempting my repair I tried the camera and it did function as it did previously with the same error…and now the lens is stuck on the body.
I screwed something up and began disassembling it again.
Its current state is “Build Your Own Camera, Some Assembly Required”.
I’ll keep trying, but I think this one might be done.
I didn’t give up yet, but it put up a hell of a fight.
I did lose one lens due to my error, but if I haven’t irreversibly damaged it, I’m going to reverse assemble it now, following the service manual steps.
The image recalls a memory from my childhood… at age 5, I took apart our rotary dial phone with a screwdriver because I wanted to understand how it works. I didn’t gain a lot insight though.
My parents were furious, because phones were hard to come by in socialist Hungary in 1985 (you could not just walk into a store and get one). So they had it repaired eventually.
I wanted to go and watch the repairman work on it but, considering the prevailing mood at the moment, this very reasonable request was not even considered by my parents.
I caved… Bought a new used camera. I’m a member of the MILC club now.
I purchased an Sony A6300 because it seemed to be quite similar to my A77… But now I can only manual focus with my a mount lenses because I’ve currently only got the basic adapter on hand.
I am still going to pursue repairing my A77, and maybe selling it or the a6300 when it’s time.
But for now I guess I’ll leave this open until I try to dive in to it again.
New photos coming soon.
Good luck with that (it was an amazing camera for it’s time, and still holding up well, so I can see why you liked it), but note that you can buy used models from around 300 usd/eur, so it may not be economical to repair it.